19 November 1905, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 26 November 1956, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. Like his older brother, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy was taught as a small child by his father, a music teacher. He first learned to play trumpet, but switched to trombone while still very young. He played in various bands, often with his brother, their co-led group known first as Dorse
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Theodore Shaw Wilson, 24 November 1912, Austin, Texas, USA, d. 31 July 1986, New Britain, Connecticut, USA. Born into a middle-class family, Wilson grew up in Tuskegee where his parents moved to take up teaching posts at the university. He studied violin and piano at Tuskegee and later extended his studies at college in Alabama. In 1929, by now concentrating on piano, he bec
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Benjamin David Goodman, 30 May 1909, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 20 June 1986, New York City, New York, USA. Born into a large, impoverished family of immigrants, Goodman experienced hard times while growing up. Encouraged by his father to learn a musical instrument, Goodman and two of his brothers took lessons; as the youngest and smallest he learned to play the clarinet. Th
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Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, 23 May 1910, East Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, d. 30 December 2004, Newbury Park, California, USA. The son of an Austrian mother and a Russian father, Arshawsky was born in New York but relocated with his family to New Haven, Connecticut while still a child. He learned to play the ukulele before taking up the alto saxophone at the age of 1
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14 May 1897, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 14 May 1959, Paris, France. A major figure in early jazz, an outstanding clarinettist, and for decades the only performer of consequence on soprano saxophone, Sidney Bechets career began in 1909. During the next few years he played clarinet in bands led by legendary musicians such as Buddy Petit, John Robichaux and Bunk John
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1 March 1905, Clarinda, Iowa, USA, d. 15 December 1944. Miller was the first artist to be credited with a million-selling disc (for Chattanooga Choo Choo), and was the toast of North American popular music during World War II for his uniformed orchestras fusion of sober virtuosity, infectious dance rhythms and varied intonation of brass and woodwind. In Mil
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29 February 1904, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 12 June 1957, New York City, New York, USA. Musically active as a small child under the tutelage of his father, who was a coal miner turned music teacher, Dorsey switched from brass to reed instruments while still in his early teens. Concentrating on clarinet and alto saxophone, he played in various bands, mostly with his b
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William Allen Basie, 21 August 1904, Red Bank, New Jersey, USA, d. 26 April 1984, Hollywood, California, USA. Band leader and pianist Basie grew up in Red Bank, just across the Hudson River from New York City. His mother gave him his first lessons at the piano, and he used every opportunity to hear the celebrated kings of New York keyboard - James P. Johnson, Willie Th
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Norma Deloris Egstrom, 26 May 1920, Jamestown, North Dakota, USA, d. 21 January 2002, California, USA. Peggy Lee was of Scandinavian descent, her grandparents being Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. She endured a difficult childhood and her mother died when she was four; when her father remarried she experienced a decidedly unpleasant relationship with her stepmother. Her fa
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15 January 1909, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 16 October 1973, New York City, New York, USA. Krupa began playing drums as a child and after his mother failed to persuade him to become a priest, most of his large family actively encouraged his career in music. He studied formally, his most important teacher being Roy C. Knapp. However, growing up in Chicago in the 20s meant tha
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Walden Robert Cassotto, 14 May 1936, New York, USA, d. 20 December 1973, Los Angeles, California, USA. Darins entry to the music business occurred during the mid-50s following a period playing in New York coffee-houses. His friendship with co-writer/entrepreneur Don Kirshner resulted in his first single, My First Love. A meeting with Connie Francis ma
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Dino Paul Crocetti, 7 June 1917, Steubenville, Ohio, USA, d. 25 December 1995, Beverly Hills, California, USA. An extremely popular ballad singer and light comedian with a relaxed and easy style, who developed into an accomplished dramatic actor. After leaving school in the tenth grade, he worked as a shoe-shine boy and a gas station attendant before becoming an amateu
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Coleman Randolph Hawkins, 21 November 1904, St. Joseph, Missouri, USA, d. 19 May 1969, New York City, New York, USA. Coleman Hawkins (aka Bean and Hawk) is a colossus of the tenor saxophone, and hence of jazz. He was the first to use the instrument as a serious means of expression and continued to be open to new developments for 40 years. Starting pia
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